Stagecoach bus services in Grimsby Cleethorpes amongst the best in Britain

Stagecoach bus services in Grimsby Cleethorpes amongst the best in Britain

23 Apr 2018

Bus users in Grimsby Cleethorpes have given Stagecoach East Midlands bus services some of the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the UK in an independent national survey of bus passengers’ views by Transport Focus.

The comprehensive survey by the transport user watchdog, which was carried out in November last year, asked 48,000 passengers across the UK to rate a range of aspects of their bus journeys including reliability, comfort, cleanliness, safety, customer care and value for money and then the measures were compared.

Stagecoach bus services in Grimsby Cleethorpes were rated:

92% for overall satisfaction by people who used bus services five or more days a week compared to 86% by passengers using buses in similar unitary authority areas.

82% for reliability that was ‘very good’ or ‘fairly good’ compared to 67% in similar unitary authority areas.

80% for punctuality compared to an average score of 74% in similar unitary authority areas.

77% for value for money with people aged 35 to 59 years compared to 67% in the same age group for similar unitary authority areas.

Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes bus drivers scored particularly well in the survey compared to bus drivers in similar unitary authority areas across the UK:

92% for driver appearance compared to 91%

82% for driver greeting / welcome compared to 79%

83% for helpfulness and attitude compared to 80%

83% for time to get a seat compared to 83%

Overall satisfaction from all bus users was rated at 89%; safety was given an 88% score.

“We are delighted to find that our bus services in Grimsby Cleethorpes have been very positively rated by bus users in this independent Transport Focus national bus survey.

We were scored particularly well compared to other areas in respect of our punctuality and value for money along with the safe driving and helpful attitude of our bus drivers.

The results are a great reflection of the hard work and commitment of our team of local managers, inspectors, bus drivers, cleaning and engineering staff based at our Grimsby Depot.”

Stagecoach East Midlands is the region’s largest bus operator running 480 buses, employing 1,300 staff and carrying around 47 million passengers each year over 21 million miles. Over £3 million has been invested new buses since November last year. The company has also been introducing new technology to enhance the appeal of bus services to a new generation of bus passengers; tickets are available on the go through a mobile app and buses can be tracked in real time to show the actual arrival time at stops.

Stagecoach is currently installing £1 million of new generation electronic ticket machines, which will introduce the ability for customers to buy tickets without cash using contactless bank cards from May.

However, the survey showed that traffic congestion was having an impact on bus passengers with satisfaction ratings with waiting times at bus stops and longer journeys receiving reduced scores since the survey was last undertaken in 2015.

These survey results show that local bus services in Grimsby Cleethorpes offer a real alternative to the use of private cars for short journeys into town provided they are supported with better bus priority measures and effective traffic flow and parking policies. Encouraging more bus use would help to reduce general traffic congestion, improve air quality and promote economic growth.